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What the heck is going on there, I don't even know. Mary told Anna there were plenty of witnesses so I'm wondering if Mr. Bates hired a hitman. They really left that storyline on a cliffhanger and made Mr. Bates purposefully suspicious.

The moment he asked to go to York, I began to sing "Murder! Murder murder murder!" gleefully under my breath intermittently throughout the episode, with an extra dose of song as he strode nonchalantly away from Downton with a small, secretive smile on his face.

He's shown a penchant for doing honorable things in an underhanded way so he never gets caught (forging Mosley's signature to convince him to accept money). This is more of that magic at work. It's the perfect crime because nobody wants to catch him.

I predict the real problem will not be with the law. It'll be with Anna.

Honestly, so do I. Although Downton stretches credibility on the reg, there's no way a) that it would be possible to push someone into oncoming traffic on a busy road without anyone in the full 360 degree panorama noticing and b) that Bates would ever think it would. He's not a total numpty. I think this is the classic red herring, complete with ambiguous expressions and unsettling music. It's going to end like that episode of The Simpsons where Bart thinks Flanders murdered his wife.

Hm, I just don't buy that Bates wouldn't do anything. He obviously figured out that it was Green, so I think he definitely played a role in the death. He wouldn't have to just straight-up push him into traffic--he could drug him so that a gentle nudge would knock him over, hire someone to do the pushing, etc.

Bates did it. He "went to york" for the day, he even set off early to "make a day of it", ie, give him self enough time to get to London and back. He knew where he lived, as he asked Green over dinner. Crowded street. My guess is Bates was in the crowd following Green, and shoved him into the road.

I don't understand how the timing is going to work with the whole death of Mr. Green storyline. Clearly his death took place in the middle of the English summer. The next time we will see the Downton gang (on the Christmas episode) presumeably the date will be at least 2-3 months later.

Won't any investigation of Green's death be wrapped up by then? Surely it will be either ruled an accident or the trail for the culprit will have gone cold. Hopefully we will learn that Bates is in the clear and the only fallout being Anna left wondering if Bates really killed him or not.

There was another thread earlier questioning the timeline at Downton. According to the wikipedia, the series finale last night took place in August 1922, and the Christmas special is supposed to take place in Summer 1923.

I wish Alfred and Daisy could have ended up together, that he could have had feelings for her before. I loved the scenes with Daisy and Mr. Mason and Mrs. Patmore.

I can't wait for the next episode, so many questions that need answering. What happened to Gregson? Will Edith change her mind about giving the baby up for adoption? Did Bates play a part in the death of Green? Will Mary choose Gillingham or Blake?

Favorite quotes of the episode:

Isobel: "I'm a feeble substitute for the entire Crawley family." Violet: "Mm, yes, but you're better than nothing." Isobel: "How warming you make that sound."

Sarah: "As a rule I don't really warm to that type." Branson: "I don't believe in types, I believe in people."

Not gonna happen. This will be one of DA's infamous plot-drops, where something crazy happens, but you never hear about it again. Like that mangled soldier that claimed he was a cousin of the crawleys.

I didn't care for Aunt Rosamund after her meddling in Season 1. But now I find her devotion to Edith commendable. She's fully prepared to do what it takes to support Edith and her pregnancy while saving her reputation. Though at the moment (30 minutes in) I'm doubting they'll go through with it!

I agree. She is really pulling through for Edith right now. It's silly of me, but my hope is that her time overseas will give her a chance to find Michael before the baby is born so she doesn't have to give the baby up :(

PLEASE!! I totally understand where Edith was coming from with "Does God not want me to be happy?" She has the worst luck!

(I mean, granted, both men Mary had sex with have died, but at least she maintained her reputation and didn't conceive any illegitimate children. Edith has consistently poor luck in pretty much everything.)

But remember violet reminding Edith not to take too much kindness from Aunt Rosamund? Maybe hinting that she is the type to consider it debt? Maybe foreshadowing or maybe just Violet's pessimistic attitude toward life and her low opinion of Rosamund.

Yes, I agree. It felt deflated. The loose ends weren't told in a manner that gave them any particular energy. We knew Bates would go killer again on someone, we knew Michael was still missing. Robert comes back and the conclusion to that is Uncle Harold getting a slap on the wrist? That was a lot of sturm und drang for so little.

I don't know, it really needs a stonger showrunner to pace the tempo of each individual thread that runs over the arc of a series. I sort of sensed on the creative side an "oh shit, we're out of time, let's just cram stuff in here" without any regard for the overall rhythm of the storytelling.

I suspect that's exactly what was going on with Bonneville. If I recall correctly, this series was being shot in the (late?) spring, and Monuments Men principal photography was March to June. There had to be some overlap and interference with his schedule between the two projects.

Well, Grantham says that Martha and Harold are coming over the following summer for coming out season, so Harold's appearance in the Christmas Special seems to have nothing to do with his involvement with Teapot Dome. That seems like it was nothing more of a ham-handed way of roping him into the narrative of Downton, dropped, as with so many stories, as quickly as it was introduced.

Jack Ross seems like a pretty smart guy though and he says that Mary (and we, presumably) are underestimating Rose, and I'm inclined to believe him. Maybe I just want her to be more interesting than a typical teenager going through a rebellious phase though.

Not really surprising, but it was sad to see how easily and quickly the whole Jack Ross plot was done away with. Rose was so unconcerned after, she was sulking because things hadn't gone her way, but she wasn't remotely heartbroken. I'm hoping she was just confused about her feelings and not claiming to be in love when she knew she wasn't.

I actually kind of like how they saved a lot of the Bates-Green-Anna stuff till about 1/3-midway through the episode instead of making it all Bates kills Green stuff, I actually forgot about it because of everything else going on.

"We can't have fallen out cause we've never fallen in!" Daisy's been killin' it with the zingers these past couple eps.

I enjoyed how the Daisy-Alfred-Ivy love triangle ended, this is a love triangle done well. Even if that damn ginger moose Alfred kept pining for the wrong girl and totally missed the right girl in front of his eyes.

"Mooning about like a sloth under water." The visual of that is just amazing. Oh Pat(t)more.

I quite like the Baxter-Molesley pairing up as 2 lost souls together...but with Molesley's luck they'll spend the night together and he'll get herpes. Enjoy it while it lasts Molesley!

"I feel like God doesn't want me to be happy" ...his name is Julian Fellows, Edith. And we all want you to be happy! If I can rely on a good Christmas Special, Gregson will be back within the first 5 minutes along with Matthew Crawley and we'll all be happy.

How lovely was it that Isobel got flowers? Nawww! Pretty sure that bloke is keen on her, it'd be nice for the oldies to get a bit of romance too. Everytime Isobel enters a room with the Dowager I sit up a bit higher and think 'here we go!' bahaha, those women!

Baxter and Moseley are sweet! They're making each other stronger people by the friendship they have, its lovely. Baxter seems 'shameful' all the time, especially when she was talking about her family. Maybe she's the victim of a rape? Maybe she's a lesbian? Maybe she's German!

Mr Mason, finally! I've missed that bloke! How sweet is he though, acting like a true father to Daisy. And Mrs Patmore was right to be proud of Daisy. Would've been nice for Alfred and Daisy to get together though.

Yep, Bates did something. Had to. He 'learnt a few things in prison' but then again he wouldn't risk all he has with Anna just to push some dirty man in front of a truck.

I dont like Branson's love interest. She automatically doesn't like people of the aristocratic society before she's even met them, and that's like... rude.

I think we'll hear more about what happened in America in the Christmas Special but Robert doesnt seem to phased by what happened over there, something weird happened with Thomas though. Maybe Robert walked in on Thomas... I dunno? Making the best of America?

True, but I think he was nice to the Crawleys though, because they were nice to him. Even though he loved her, he went out of his way to get to know Sybil in the beginning and encouraged her to follow her dreams and such. I guess Branson is showing this new woman what he learnt from getting to know the Crawleys, they're not all bad.

Interesting points! I'm rooting for Gillingham, for reasons I'm not sure of. I guess I liked him before Blake came into the picture so I feel loyal to him? I don't know. They've definitely had Blake pulling at my heartstrings the last two episodes. And Evelyn does seem like such a good fit, if Mary would just give him a chance. It's strange to not have a definitive love interest like it was for Matthew! It really could go in any direction.

I think my main reason for disliking Gillingham is his flip-flopping on marrying Mabel Lane Fox. While their marriage would have been one of convenience, rather than love, it just didn't seem right to me that he actively pursued Mary while engaged to another.

I don't really believe that Evelyn has a chance with Mary, and I don't think he believes it either. As he said at the beginning of the series, (to paraphrase) he doesn't think he is very interesting, but he feels his future wife should think he is. It seems as though it is being constantly reinforced that Mary finds so many other people more interesting that him.

He certainly seems willing to go above and beyond for her. When she asked him to fire Green he replied, "I'll sack him if you insist" However, my inner 12-year-old heard him say, "I'll suck him if you insist".

Bates is vengeful but he's also smart. He knows that getting the revenge how he would want it would be bound to get him caught, so the best thing to do would be to make it look like an accident. I think he enlisted the help of an inmate he met in prison and watched it all from the sidelines. Although Mary's involvement and Gillingham's subsequent suspicions of her being somehow involved in Green's death is bound to lead to trouble.

so many sweet moments in this episode!
I loved the daisy/Mr.Mason interaction,and when Ms Patmore told her she was proud of her :3 the Cora & Robert reunion was also kinda cute, and I also quite enjoyed that isobel got flowers from the old dude.
I also found moleslys testosterone rush after hitting the bell quite amusing, you could really tell he felt manly/confident beeing cheered on by baxter and then just telling Thomas to gtfo like that :D

As far as marys suitors go I am also in Team Pig hero, especially since seeing him play with the baby just like that :3 so cute
And I am so curious to how ediths baby drama is going to turn out. I liked how she keeps refusing drinks though.

Dammit, with a finale like this one how are we supposed to wait until Christmas?

Bates seems to have ninja-murdered Green which I wanted, but I want the satisfaction of knowing for sure that he did it and how he managed.

I wish that Mrs. Hughes had been behind Green's death, because that would have made it more badass.

I seriously hope this doesn't mean that there's going to be more worrying about Bates going to prison next season. I know that there were witnesses to this "accident" but I don't know!

What the hell happened to Michael Gregson?

What was up with Blake holding little George? I thought that was interesting.

Napier-Mary-Gillingham-Blake weird love rectangle STAHP. It seems so strange that they don't notice that they're fighting over the same woman.

I love this Baxter-Molesley friendship, it makes me so happy.

We STILL don't know what Baxter is hiding.

Edith is just going to give the baby away in Switzerland? How plausible is this? I wish I knew the extended version of her plan with that farmer.

So Robert went to America...for what, again? Cora's brother just got a slap on the wrist.

Alfred proposing to Ivy annoyed me. I'm glad that he recognized in the end how blind he was (about Daisy) but hmph!

I love Mr. Mason, he's such a nice man.

When Mrs. Patmore told Daisy that she was proud of her...the feels!

Poor Jack Ross. Rose was annoying and pouty this episode, it just served as another reminder to how young she is. And the fact that she just wanted to marry a black guy to get back at her mother is irritating :/

I still don't like Tom's new love interest. The way that she kept questioning his actions and "ways" reminded me of how Edna made him second-guess himself.

Yes! See my other comments, I wanted to either see Bates beat the tar out of him or Mrs. Hughes poison him. I also don't care for Tom's new love interest, I wouldn't be surprised if she became yet another villain after him. And dammit, how can they not tell us what the flowers card said?!

How could she have hidden her pregnancy from the rest of society though? She didn't want to be an outcast, but wouldn't that have been a huge scandal? If everyone knew that she was pregnant, wouldn't it have made sense to keep the baby rather than give it to the farmer after it's born? I mean, I thought the point was to hide it somehow.

I want to know what Thomas got up to in the new world. If "modern" referred to mod cons and not sexual mores, I'll eat my topper. Also, what was that look Robert gave him as he walked off? Seemed a bit excessive and pointed if it merely implied that Thomas was not as good a valet as Bates. What did you get up to, you cad? [nudges him in ribs] Eh? Eh? Eh? Hmm?

I don't think Molesley's luck has turned btw. I believe Baxter only sidles up to him to have an ally; someone who's on her side against Thomas. She's manipulating Mr M., but she's doing it in such a nice, gentle manner that everyone (including the viewer) can be forgiven for believing her genuine in her affections. I'll bet that what Thomas has on her is that she's a lesbian. Or something. I don't know.

I just really want to find out where Mr Gregson is. By the time the Christmas special happens, Edith will have had her baby (in the episode they said Rose is coming out in 6 months time or something like that), and I want to know if Mary will chose anyone!

The scenes tonight were ludicrously rushed, even by Downton standards. It was like looking at someone flipping through a sketchbook. Some of them barely lasted ten seconds, and it showed. Every moment was grist for the ever-grinding plot machine, not a jot of emotional nuance or insight. No characters had any meaningful, extended interaction. And even with all of this rushing about we were left with, in my eyes at least, a pretty unsatisfying conclusion.

Where's Gregson? We've had not one whiff of a hint since he disappeared and I'm starting to worry that we're just supposed to write him off as a storyline dead-end and focus on Edith's baby drama, which... is not very good storytelling.

Who killed Green? No-one, surely - neither Bates nor anyone else with a functioning brain cell would try to off someone by pushing them in front of a bus in a crowded London thoroughfare. The only way this conclusion could be remotely interesting is if Gillingham made the story up and Green lives on, I suppose, but he has no reason to do that.

And literal galaxies of other storylines that Fellowes thinks should definitely be launched in the last episode of the series. Isobel's fancy man, Branson's uninteresting socialist crumpet (possibly stalker - that car breakdown was v. convenient), Baxter's sudden passion for Joseph 'God loves a trier' Molesley.

I was thinking that at first, but there are so many things that happen just-so-conveniently in Downton world that it's actually pretty standard. People are always overhearing each other in an enormous house, Tom walked right by a restaurant as Rose and Jack were sitting down, etc. Branson happening by when the car breaks down is pretty aligned with normal Downton coincidences.

Maybe she's Cora's illegitimate daughter that no one ever knew anything about, and Cora did what Edith was planning to do with her child (set the child up with some family in the village.) Cora and the lady do kind of look a like (cough, hair, cough).

After all, they did mention in early seasons that Cora and Robert weren't in love when they first married.

You think that Cora had an illegitimate child after she was married? She definitely didn't have one before they were married, she lived in America! I guess anything is possible! Interesting idea. Either way, I don't really like this Bunting chick, something about her really bothers me.

Loved the last episode. They made a terrific job with it, it's certainly one of my top favorites.

I loved how they played on the relationship between Daisy ( who has been on my nerves lately ) and Mrs. Patmore , and Daisy & Mr. Mason. I actually cried while watching that.
Excellent comedy relief from the Dowager as always.

The one thing I'm actually not sure about is the whole Bates/Green thing. I don't really think he killed him or something, another Bates arrest would be such a bore. But where was he? Was he seeing a "shrink" or something equivalent to the time? Cause I think he has a lot of anger issues there that he has to resolve somehow (other than killing Green ) and maybe is doing so.

I was quite surprised at how Mary dealt with the whole Jack Ross situation. At first I taught it's out of character but then I remembered what Matthew said to Tom regarding him & Sybil : "Mary's a pragmatist [...]" , which is all so true.

EDIT: Actually, if bates did kill Green , it wouldn't necessarily be that he goes to prison. On the other hand, we will hear more about the whole Green situation in the Christmas Special. Can't wait.

My thoughts tonight.........
I love the Baxter-Molesly thing. It is quite cute, and perhaps will give him a chance, but now that it has started and Gillingham's man is out, perhaps Gillingham will want to hire Molesly as his valet---thus separating a cute pair.
Where Mary is concerned, I am team Pig Hero!!! I feel that Blake is more honest to who he is and would allow Mary to continue to grow as a person. I think he admires that she is willing to work for what she wants, and would respect that and not try to tame that. There is something about Gillingham I do not like. He feels slimy, false. Notice how he wavers between Mary and Mable, two great heiresses(sp?) perhaps he is in some hidden money difficulty and is seeing which fish is bigger. I also wonder at him telling Mary that Green died shortly after she asked him to sack him, and pressed her for reasons, even expressing the "coincidence" of it all. I think he's plotting something. Perhaps something to hold as leverage to get her to marry him.
Poor Edith. I think she really wants to keep the baby. I think Rosamund is being so helpful, because she wants the baby. Interesting to see how this plays out.
When Mrs. Patmore told Daisy how proud she was.......tears. Definitely hit me in the feels.
I do not like Branson's new love interest at all. Maybe I am just not ready for a Sibyl replacement.
Could there be any better pairing in television that Isobel/Violet? I could watch an entire episode of just their conversations.
Something is fishy with Gregson. I wonder his "mentally ill" wife isn't with him in Germany somewhere. hmmmm...........

Agree with everything. Baxter-Molesly is adorable. But I know Thomas is gonna cause trouble at some point. I do not like Gillingham. I find him irritating and I think she has better chemistry with Blake. He brings out the best in her, a bit like Matthew. And he's good with the baby! Then there's the Branson thing. It's nice to see Branson show a little interest in someone, but I don't like her so much. She's a bit judgmental. Or maybe I just don't want to see Branson with anyone new.

One thing I will say in Sarah Bunting's defense is that Branson was very much like her when he first showed up to Downton and met Sybil. Now he's found himself in a bit of a role reversal, and it's kind of fun to watch!